BREAKING: Two further coronavirus deaths leaves UK total at eight

One was in their 70s with underlying health conditions in Dudley, while the other, in Nuneaton, was elderly and had a number of serious health conditions.

In the UK, the number of confirmed cases spiked today to 460 – an increase of 83 from yesterday.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has said that parliament will remain open despite health minister Nadine Dorries testing positive for Covid-19.

When questioned in the commons by Jeremy Hunt, current chair of the Health Select Committee, Mr Hancock said: “The World Health Organisation this afternoon declaring that this is globally now regarded as a pandemic does indicate that they think this virus will spread right across the world.

“This is all within the plan that we set out, and we'll be discussing that at COBRA tomorrow.”